Manulife launches ManuLove Care

HONG KONG, Aug. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Hong Kong has launched ManuLove Care, the first-in-market critical illness solution that extends protection to the insured's parents and children including children born in the future. It offers ample protection and financial support for Hong Kong's sandwich generation: working-age people who support their parents and children.

ManuLove Care provides the insured with well-rounded protection up to the age of 100, covering 60 major critical illnesses, 44 early stage critical illnesses and eight juvenile diseases.

"ManuLove Care makes it easier for those with cross-generational family responsibilities to protect themselves and their loved ones if medical challenges arise," said Wilton Kee, Chief Product Officer for Individual Financial Products at Manulife Hong Kong. "While one in three people in Hong Kong[1] will be diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85, many do not have critical illness insurance protection themselves and overlook the importance of such protection for their children. This leaves them vulnerable to long-term financial stress if an illness strikes them or family members."

The well-rounded plan is designed to provide extra protection to the life insured's parents and children.

• Parents are protected against cancer from the age of 55 to 85. Children, including those born in the future, are protected up to the age of 18 against 60 major critical illnesses, eight juvenile diseases including critical illnesses arising from undetected congenital conditions.
  
• No underwriting is required for the covered parents and children, subject to a two-year elimination period.
  
• If a covered family member is diagnosed with a covered critical illness, 20% of the notional amount (up to HK$200,000 / US$25,000) per covered family member is claimable. This family benefit is payable twice if two different covered family members each suffer from a covered illness. This family benefit, if claimed, does not affect the benefit that the insured is entitled to.

Results from a customer survey[2] recently conducted by Manulife Hong Kong highlight the need that ManuLove Care addresses: more than half (53%) of respondents with health or critical illness insurance do not have a family plan, while only one-third (33%) have a family plan that covers critical illness. Meanwhile, 64% of respondents' parents do not have critical illness protection. It is difficult for many elderly people to pass the necessary underwriting conditions to secure insurance cover due to age-related health complications.

For critical illness protection for the children, only 36% of respondents with children have such coverage. 70% of respondents with parents and children said they would choose a critical illness plan that can cover them and their parents and children, if there is such an option.

Other features of ManuLove Care include:

• Extra protection: Pay an additional 50% of the notional amount if a major critical illness strikes within the first 10 policy years.
  
• Protection restore benefit: The benefits previously paid for an early stage critical illness and/or a juvenile disease happening more than a year ago will be restored if the insured is diagnosed with a major critical illness or suffers a death.
  
• Continuous care protection: After the first claim of any major critical illness, offer the life insured additional coverage for two diagnoses of cancer, heart attack/ stroke and independent major critical illnesses (total 600% additional protection).
  
• Guaranteed and level premium: To allow better financial planning, ManuLove Care offers a guaranteed and level premium that will not change, along with life protection and long-term savings. There is also an inflation protector option for added peace of mind.
  
• Premium waiver: Waive all future premiums of the plan if a major critical illness strikes, while the life insured will still be covered. It also waives premium of the plan in case the policyowner or the policyowner's legally married spouse passes away.
  
• Free wellness check-ups: The plan provides up to five free wellness check-ups, which can be shared with covered family members.

"When planning for your retirement, it is not enough to simply focus on savings. Critical illness does not discriminate and as our recent survey shows, many hard-working people are financially unprepared for a serious illness in their family. We know that Hong Kongers want to protect the health of themselves and their loved ones, and ManuLove Care enables them to do so," said Kee.

For more details about Manulife's critical illness protection solutions, please visit here. More details of ManuLove Care and its product features can be found here.

About Manulife Hong Kong
Manulife Hong Kong offers a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to individual and corporate customers via Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited and Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company Limited, which are members of the Manulife group of companies. 

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2017, we had about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of June 30, 2018, we had over C$1.1 trillion (HK$6,662 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $27.6 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.